He discusses his involvement in the fall of richmond in 1865. The museum of the confederacy hosted this event. [applause] mr. Quatman mr. Quatman a thank you for joining me. It is a visiting story the story that very few civil war buffs know. Ive given this talk all over the country and people are surprised, they have not heard of him before. Over the next hour i will tell you why he was chosen to enter richmond 150 years ago today. You may remember his name when you walk out of here. The book is actually on sale upstairs in the gift shop. I will be doing a book signing upstairs. If you have a copy of the book there is time to get one. Richmond was captured april 3, 1865. What an understatement that is to capture the historic event that happened 150 years ago today. I got interested in this project 12 years ago when i was going through my grandfathers Family Archive and memoirs and came across this entry. My fathers uncle was a general in the civil war. My grandfather was born in the United States in ohio. His parents were immigrants. His parents died at a young age when george was 18 months old. He was adopted and the family name was changed. Im a blood wetiitzel. Im a blood weitzel. We have weitzels in the Confederate White House. We have some weitzels here today. Probably more than in 150 years. Welcome. This is Major GeneralGodfrey Weitzel. Died at age 49 years old. He was born in germany, a small town on the frenchgerman border. Like many german immigrants, they to cincinnati, ohio to a neighborhood the called over the rhine. It reminded them of the rhine river valley, full of steamships and steeples. Today if you go there it looks like it did 150 years ago. Still preserved. The neighborhood is still home to german restaurants. You can picture what it looks like back in the day. His fathers name was ludwig. The name was changed to a more american sounding name, lewis. He owned a Grocery Store in the over the rhine neighborhood. Gottsfried, the german name, and the younger son the father louis, became active in politics and cincinnati. He was a democrat and was very influential in the neighborhood. He actually became a member of the school board, so he achieved some status. His son was a bright young boy. He was tall for his age, and in the Cincinnati School district he attended high school and was top of his class and all classes his senior year. He caught the attention of some of the leaders of the German Community there, and they said this young boy needs the best education we can get him, but as a grocer, the father could not afford a good college for him, so the plan was to get him admitted to west point. West point was a reeducation and a Free Education and the best education a young boy could receive. With the help of some congressman from ohio, germans that were influential, the application process started to get gottfried to west point. I want to step back a bit and mention lewis. The brothers were inseparable. In doing research recently, i stumbled onto a photograph of gottfrieds younger brother. I was able to identify him in many pictures of godfrey on the battlefield. You see him with general butler. Right behind him is his younger brother. At fort harrison, you see godfrey, who was 6foot4, by the way, his younger brother sitting beside him. At petersburg after the war, when godfrey was relocated from richmond to petersburg, we see lewis off to the right. Ive studied this picture a hundred times. The much larger photograph with the officers standing in formal poses except the young guy on on the right, slouching down on the ground. I wondered why this guy was slouching, and it was not until a few weeks ago i spread out this photograph and realized he was holding a dog. After the fall of richmond and bombardment of petersburg, you wonder what this puppy might have heard and encountered on the battlefield. The youngest cadet, godfrey is accepted to west point. He was born november 1, 1835. He is 14 years old when he is accepted to west point. The problem is you have to be 16 to get in to west point, so they they fibbed a bit about his age. At this point, he changes his name to godfrey, and his father, louis weitzel, signs the letter to send his son to west point. Godfrey says goodbye to his family, takes a steamship and from there probably caught a stagecoach and maybe a train to new york city. At new york city, he would have caught another steamer of the hudson river to west point, this curve in the river where they formed the military academy high on the banks of the hudson river. Fascinating culture up there. Probably cannons being tired fired off. Godfrey shows up, this young 15yearold from cincinnati, the youngest cadet all the years he was on campus. You get a feel for what was it looks like. Godfreid may be in the crowd here somewhere. I dont know, but i like to think that he is. They were hazed by the upperclassman. The photograph shows one of the upperclassman cadets training them in formation. This was drawn by one of godfrey godfreids classmates. Class of 1855 had a young man who was not much of a student, but he was a great artist, and his name was James Mcneill whistler. 17yearold cadet and in the same class as weitzel. People discovered what a great artist this young cadet was, and he ended up doing the graduation booklet cover for the seniors that year. My favorite is a fourpart series whistler did showing a twohour haze of the cadets on guard duty. The first half hour followed by the second halfhour, all of finally the fourth halfhour. [laughter] mr. Quatman whistler had a problem with conduct an received a lot of demerits. He knew to expose in, and those a science exam where he could in a wide silicon as a gas instead of an element. Many years later, after he was expelled from west point, he said if silicon was a gas, he would have been a Major General one day. We all know the painting of his mother, whistlers mother. The secretary of war at this time was Jefferson Davis, oddly enough. As secretary of war, he was in charge of the military. Not a military position, but a civilian administrative decision. The years that weitzel was at west point, Jefferson Davis was secretary of war. The superintendent was robert e lee. The lee family would host cap connect at their home on sunday afternoon and entertain the boys and try to teach them some manners. From time to time, mrs. Lee would invite some of the girls from the community to entertain some of the boys. Some of the memoirs say how awkward it was between the young cadets and the young girls, but lee took note of the young cadets who were doing well in school and took note of this tall boy, godfreid weitzel. Godfreid was one of the top students in his class all four years. This is the grade from his junior year. The number one position was held by Cyrus Comstock from massachusetts. Godfreid weitzel was in third place by the end of their junior year. Comstock was 20 when he entered west point. Official records say weitzel was 16, but we know he was 15. Even though he was five years younger, he was nipping at the heels of Cyrus Comstock. Weitzel had only 60 merits for the entire year his junior year, pretty remarkable feat at west point weitzel had six demerits. You can see below him, ebenezer had 100 demerits. You were a member of what they call the century club. If you had 200, you were expelled from the academy. By senior year, weitzel was still one of the top cadets, and comstock still had the top position. Number one in almost every class. Weitzel graduated number two in their class, still with one demerit less than comstock. Robert e lee also graduated number two in his class. Top cadets got the best assignments out of west point. It was an Engineering School and the engineers were assembled in what is called the corps of engineers. Today, we hear about the army corps of engineers and think of them or civil projects, but this is when army corps consisted of engineer graduates from west point. Weitzel plus first assignment out of west point was to new orleans weitzels first assignment out of west point was to new orleans. He was assigned to work under major pgt beauregard. Beauregard was busy at work in new orleans on several projects and needed a young assistant, so this right, young, german native from cincinnati shows up in new orleans. He takes a steamship from his family home down the Mississippi River to new orleans and shows up in a city very different than the one he has been in before. Keep in mind, he grew up in the north and probably did not see many black people growing up here and probably none at west point other than the servants, so its a very different city. Beauregards fast at work on the customhouse on canal street. If you have been to new orleans, the customhouse is a massive structure taking up an entire city block. Weitzel helped beauregard on finishing up the customhouse project. The other project that maybe is more important to our story is to know for about 40 miles down the Mississippi River that guarded the approach to new orleans from the gulf of mexico. One was fort jackson on the west side. The other was fort saint philip on the east side. The Mississippi River takes an scurve. Any ship would have to slow down to take that turn, so they perched two forts on either side of that curve so they could pummel any ships with cannon fire on the way up. Weitzel spent four years here, 40 miles away from new orleans for most of his time. He draws every day, every doorway, every wall and writes a letter to Cyrus Comstock saying he is bored to tears. Hes done nothing but draw every day in triplicate every single detail of these forts. When he has downtime, he goes to the bayous and hunts ducks which he enjoyed doing. Those four years, learning every inch of these two forts and learning the back by use of fort saint philip became the most important thing to launch his career in the military. Weitzel gets another letter saying, your assignment to new orleans is over, and you are assigned as an assistant professor to west point, so in august 1859, he takes a steamer up to west point. He meets a young girl, german girl, 17 years old, the daughter of the owner of a beer house and coffeehouse in cincinnati. Luisa and godfrey married. Two days after his 24th birthday. The couple spends their honeymoon briefly and makes their way up to best point where he is assigned as assistant professor. Thanksgiving day, three weeks to the day of their wedding, luisa is fixing thanksgiving dinner for her young husband, the assistant professor, and a spark pops out of the fireplace and catches her hoop skirt on fire. Luisa is engulfed in flames. A a and dies within an hour and a her husbands arms. Godfrey has to send a telegram home to her parents that their only daughter has perished at west point. He is so distraught with grief as you can imagine, that he is given a year off to mourn by the superintendent of the academy, and godfrey goes to europe for a year. He studies german Engineering Projects and takes time to mourn and get his head back in the game, as it were. The year he is gone is very important here in the states. November 1859, from louisas funeral to november 1860 is pivotal because what is going on here is the election. Abraham lincoln is running for president against three southerners. Theres concern in the south that if a northerner from illinois is elected president , what will that do to some of the southern traditions . Mainly, what will it do to Property Rights and the rights to own slaves . Beauregard puts his hat in the nomination to be superintendent at west point. He wants to move from new orleans to west point. He writes a letter and rights to weitzel to ask him to help him petition for the job at west point. Lincoln is elected. A few facts and want to go over on the timeline here southerners begin to seize all the federal forts in the south except fort monroe in virginia fort sumter in South Carolina, and fort pickens off the coast of california. December 20, South Carolina secedes, followed by mississippi, florida, alabama, georgia. On january 23, beauregard is appointed superintendent of west point. A major from the louisiana is appointed superintendent of the west Point Military academy in new york. Some begin to think thats a bad idea when on january 26, louisiana secedes from the union. Beauregard writes that he would not have taken up arms against his country even in light of secession and less war broke out. The next day, the secretary of war is indicted for treason. He has been sending arms to the Southern Federal forts, and there was concern he knew they would be captured by southerners and was helping supply the south for the war broke out. How about this appointment of a louisiana major as superintendent at west point . Not such a good idea. January 28, beauregards appointment is revoked. He holds the record today for shortest tenure as superintendent five days. He is insulted they would revoke his superintendency, so he goes to richmond and volunteers his services to be a brigadier in the confederate army. Lincoln is going to be inaugurated in washington. At west point, theres a call to gather a group of cadets to be bodyguards for the lincoln inauguration. Dr. Weitzel, as assistant professor, sits down with a contingent of engineers soldiers to guard lincoln at his inauguration. On march 4, 1861, as a huge crowd assembles in washington, there are bodyguards all along the parade route watching from the point of a gun or dagger or anything that might be assault on the president. Is the first time godfrey gets his eyes on abraham lincoln. April 12, fort sumter first shots are fired. The war begins. We all know who fire the first shots, right . A fellow who just got his superintendency revoked. Fort begins pickens is still under union control. Engineer soldiers are assigned from washington quickly to get down to fort pickens to hold that forth for the union. Weitzel knows about reinforcing forts from his times in new orleans, and fort pickens is held in union possession all through the war. Up north, theres a plan to strangle the confederacy. The concept was to blockade all the port that would supply munitions and clothing to the confederacy, and the major point that needs to be blocked as the one in new orleans, the largest city in the south that controls the gulf of mexicos entrance into the Mississippi River. Mississippi being the backbone of the confederacy. We have officer david porter president lincoln, secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles secretary of state william seward, general george mcclellan, secretary of war edwin stanton. They begin to talk about this need to seize new orleans. A plan that assault. Predominately, they plan to assault fort saint philip and fort jackson. The problem is these are yankees from the north and they do not know those forts. Someone says theres a young lieutenant in washington right now who knows everything about this two forts. So the call goes out to find weitzel and bring him right away. He shows up with these the wigs bigwigs of the federal government. They ask what he knows, and he asks what they need to know. He knows exactly how to take the two forts because he knows their weaknesses, so they make weitzel the chief engineer of the mission against new orleans. This twentysomething has the key to unlock the two forts, if you will. A large contingent of ships, and the fleet sales around the tip of florida to a staging area just off the coast of new orleans. Weitzel tells admiral farragut how to capture the forts. The plan was that admiral porter flag officer porter at the time would bomb the forts from several miles away with mortar ships and would reduce them to rubble, and farragut would sail his fleet right past. It did not work out that way. After two days bombing the forts, they were hardly harmed at all. Weitzel did a pretty good job reinforcing them. He says he has another plan. Run close to the fort, and run up the river because these guns will shoot two miles away and they do not ratchet down very quickly. As you run close to the fort they will fire over you, ill come off the backside with soldiers in long books and canoes and ladders and scale the wall and surprise the confederates as they are looking on the riverside. Farragut says, lets try it. Farragut and the fleet of steamships and admiral porter, general Benjamin Franklin butler is assigned to command the army forces that would occupy the forts and occupied new orleans after it has been seized. The ship started up river. Farragut does what weitzel says. Weitzel comes around the backside with a fleet of long boats and canoes and ladders. After an hour and a half while battled that rages on the seaside, the soldiers scaled the backside and capture the two forts. With the two forts silenced, farragut sails his fleet up the river and anchors just off new orleans. General butler marches into the city with history to occupy the city. Weitzel says we should separate headquarters from the customhouse. He knows that building pretty well, too. Hes the only one in the mission that knows new orleans. Him most of the men in new orleans had left. Whats left behind is the women. They we have this occupation of federal soldiers. Whenever a federal soldier walked down the street, he would be insulted by the women of new orleans. Some of them were so brazen, they would spit on them. This reaches pinnacle when a woman dumped her chamber pot off her balcony in the French Quarter onto a federal officer admiral farragut. He barges in to general butlers headquarters and says he needs to put a stop of it or he will. The butler things about a four minute and sit down at his desk to write general order number 28. Let me read it to you as the offices of the soldiers of the United States have been subject to repeated insults from the women calling themselves ladies of new orleans, a return for the most scrupulous, noninterfering courtesy on our part he gives this order to the chief of staff. Butlers intent was that the ladies would not want to be considered ladies of the even